Climate
The climate is desert-like with summers that are generally hot and very dry just over 300 mm (12" of annual precipitation), resulting in one of the Provinces longest growing seasons, and the warmest summer daytime average temperature in Canada 27.9°C. Normally, daily temperatures in July and August average near 30°C 86°F, with overnight lows of around 14°C 57°F. September and October are usually warm and pleasant. Winters are short but can be somewhat cold with average lows around -5°C 24°F in January. Spring arrives early with the return of warm and pleasant weather in April. Current weather conditions and historical climate data can be found on Environment Canada's web site (http://www.weatheroffice....). The following link to a live webcam, looking northeast provides a current view of the west and south shoreline of lake Osoyoos and the town (http://www.safaribeachres...).
Understand
The Osoyoos area has long been home to the Okanagan people who speak the Syilx language, an Interior Salish people who still live in the valley, from the head waters of the Okanagan Lake, downstream to near the Okanagan river's confluence with the Columbia River in present-day Washington, though the traditional territory once encompasses the entire Columbia River. Like many places in the British Columbia Interior, the Osoyoos area was named by the Okanagan people. Osoyoos O-sue-use or Sou-yoos in the Syilx language describes a "narrow" waterway or where land almost meets, which refers to the cinched waistline of the 19km long Osoyoos Lake 5km of which is in the USA. The Okanagan people are thought to have first lived in the area around 3500 to 4000 years ago. There are indications that non-native travellers may have been here in the 1500âs, and also that Spanish conquistadors came here searching for Eldorado: they got as far as Kelowna before they and most of their horses died during a severe winter. It was not until the early 1800s that trappers and traders arrived, followed by gold miners and then ranchers. A fairly young place, in terms of settlers, who found the area too hot and dry in the summer. The first commercial orchard was planted in 1890, and when the South Okanagan irrigation canal was built in 1919, the town of Osoyoos began to grow and was thus incorporated in 1946.
The Okanagan Basin area around Osoyoos is an area of notable ecological significance. Habitat types include wetland/riparian, grassland/shrub-steppe, coniferous forest, and rugged terrain. This wide assortment of habitats supports extensive biological diversity. Nearly half the bird species in Canada are found here along with many plants that exist nowhere else in North America, or in some cases the world.
Osoyoos is situated just north of the Canada-US border, and the border crossing is the busiest in British Columbia outside of the Lower Mainland.
The climate is desert-like with summers that are generally hot and very dry just over 300 mm (12" of annual precipitation), resulting in one of the Provinces longest growing seasons, and the warmest summer daytime average temperature in Canada 27.9°C. Normally, daily temperatures in July and August average near 30°C 86°F, with overnight lows of around 14°C 57°F. September and October are usually warm and pleasant. Winters are short but can be somewhat cold with average lows around -5°C 24°F in January. Spring arrives early with the return of warm and pleasant weather in April. Current weather conditions and historical climate data can be found online at Environment Canada (http://www.weatheroffice....).